bsharpe269

Thanks for the response guys. I'll add that I don't really think the 4th letter would be generic at all. The professor nominates me for a lot of stuff regularly (like when he chooses 1 student In the department to nominate) and is very familiar with my research and all since his is very similar. So for the applications that say to submit 3 letters, ill do what you suggest and just submit the 3. Does your advice change at all for applications that say to submit "at least 3." I feel that my LORs will probably will be the strongest part of my application. I've read a couple of them already and they are very long letters and include that I am by far one of the best students they have ever worked with. Ill be making up for a mediocre undergrad transcript so I feel that might need the extra letter if those will basically make my application? Thanks again for the advice!

My approach is that I would rather apply twice than apply to safety schools. I am focussing on applying to schools that are the best Research fit and am not really taking prestige into account at all. Do you really want to go to a school that is only okay in your research area? I recommend applying based in research fit and I'm sure you'll be fine!

I definitely will ask my PI and his collaborator. Both of their names are well known in my subfield and they have both supervised my research. I have another professor who I took a class with last semester and ended up with >98% in the class and 100 on the final. I did some extra work for him for fun at one point for the class since it was some very math intensive work and he didnt have the background (my undergrad was in math). After completing this, he asked me if he could write one of my grad school letters and I of course agreed. My PI has also mentioned that I definitely need to have him write a letter since he apparently made it clear to my PI that he thinks very highly of me. I agree and think this will be a great letter. As a note though, he is in the same field as I am but very different research area. I could stop with these 3 but there is a 4th professor who is in the same exact subfield as I am and his name may definitely be known at some of the schools. I ended up with a 99% in his class and contacted him throughout the class, asking for recommendations on papers on topics of interest to me, went to office hours, etc. After taking a long time on one of his quizes, he approached me, asking if I thought the quiz was too difficult for the rest of the class since it took me a while. Based on these experiences, I think that he would also write a very good letter. Also, his reasearch group is close with ours. Anyone have any advice? Would you include all 4 or choose 3 of the 4? I asked my PI about it and he said that the 4th could either help my application or annoy someone so he wanted to think about it before answering. Id love to get the 4th if it will help my application but dont want to risk being seen as annoying or like I cant follow directions. Any advice?

I would work as hard as you can and publish great quality work which will open doors to post docs with respected PIs.

Honestly, you are looking at professional masters programs so even though its a different field, I think that you would be fine getting 1 or 2 of the letters from job supervisors. If you can come up with 1-2 letters from undergrad and 1-2 from work then I think youll be fine.

Start reading papers about these topics and you still soon read things that catch you interests and help you narrow down your topic.

I think you will weaken your application by drawing attention to it.

I agree that given your lack of relationships with faculty that you would be best to take some time off. I think you should really evaluate why you havent been able to form these relationships beyond just stating that you went to a really big university. I did too so I do understand that at big schools, you really do have to go out of your way to impress professors but there are opportunities. For example, as mentioned above, research! What is your reserach experience like? If you have done a project and put tons of effort into it then that PI should be an automatic letter writer. Also, even in big classes, professors always notice the top grade in the class. They always notice the students who bring any suggested extra credit or even extra practice problems in the textbook to office hours to ask questions. Internships are a great way to meet people (not academics but industry people) for letters. Have you TAed at all? That is another easy way to get closer with professors. Can you do some of these things your last semester and try to apply next year? Great letters do make a huge difference in the application process!

So the main question seems to be whether reserach can make up for the GPA and I think the answer to that is yes, though it obviously is more difficult to get in than the combo of great GPA and great research. It might take a couple cycles but many people get grad school acceptances with low GPAs. It sounds like the GRE isnt an issue for a couple schools that you are interested. If you want to apply to more schools though so that you have a better chance of getting an acceptance than I recommend taking it. I understand that you may not personally value the score but adcoms have their own reasons that they value it based on their personal experience and/or research. I think you should put aside your personal opinions on the GRE and take it since your future mentors (people you respect) may value it. That is enough of a reason for me to study and try to do well on it. As for the third letter, based on all of your experience, I am sure have met people through your research experience and opportunity abroad who can write for you. If you have 2 letters from professors in your field and a third from someone who met through these research experiences then it sounds like that would take an awesome combo.

Thanks for the advice guys. Even though my personality probably fits best with a small lab, I am certainly willing to move to a bigger lab if thats what it takes to acheive my goals. I do want to be a researcher, probably at a university. I dont necesarily have goals to work at a top schools, but I do hope to work at a state school or something along those lines. My PI has been so much help. I definitely wouldnt consider him bitter since he made these comments in a way to encourage me to seek out the top labs, not to say that I couldnt aceive my goals. He isnt your typical, quiet science guy. He is actually one of the lucky few who ended up with briliance and that smooth, likable, political personality. He is very high up in the university so even though it is always worth seeking out a second opinion, I do trust his. It is good to hear that subgroups form within the big labs. That seems like a good way to get a small community and a go to person for questions when you are starting out.

Well top schools tend to have stong research so it makes sense that there is at least one or two top schools that matches well with each person's research interests. I am applying to 2 top 10 schools and the rest are ranked around 20 or 30. I did not intentionally choose those schools because of prestige but rather, am applying to the schools that best match my research interests.

I think that all of those ideas you mention sound really great. Those are the things that make you unique but that someone can't learn about you from your CV!

I personally wouldnt send a follow up, though I know that others on here might disagree. Many PIs even say that they get a bit annoyed by a single email since they perfer that interested students contact them after being admitted. I know that this feeling isnt universal and many PIs feel very different. Either way, I would stick with one email. If they dont respond then I would take that as a sign that you should wait until interview weekend to speak in more detail.

A quote from the abstract of the first link: "Transferred onto a 4-point grading scale, women earn college grades that are 0.24 points higher than those of men with the same admission test result." If women and men are getting similar test results and women are getting higher grades then it seems to be like this is more related to choice of field than it is to an issue with the GRE. Men tend to study fields with reputations for lower GPAs (STEM) while women graviate towards education, humanities, social sciences which have a reputation for higher GPAs. It makes sense to me that men would have lower GPAs while getting similar test results based on this. As a woman in STEM, I am not trying to be sexist with the above comment but this has been an observation of mine. I am also not suggesting that humanities and social sciences are any less important or worthwhile to study. I am only making a very generalized statement based on my personal observations.

I am a MS student and am currently applying for PhD programs by the Dec deadlines. So far, I have always been part of small research groups. I have really enjoyed the small group environment that gives the opportunity for individual attention from the PI. I do not want a super hands on PI and like being able to pursue my own ideas but I do want someone who is willing to set up individual meetings occasionally or do weekly group meetings or something to give feedback on my ideas and progress. While looking at possible PhD labs, the lab size issue has been in my mind. I have relatively specific research interests and am of course interested in working with the 'big name' professors in my subfield. My subfield is incredibly political. I know that this is probably true across all of academia but my PI makes it sound like the subfield I want to enter is even more political than most and has gone as far as saying that unless I work for the top 5-10 big names, the chance of being accepted into the community is really low later. These big name professors get tons of funding though and have very large groups. This dynamic makes me a bit nervous. Like many science people, Im not a hugely outgoing person. I have really liked working in small research groups so far and dont want to work with a PI who has no time for me since he has so many students. Has anyone transitioned from a small MS (or undergrad) lab to large lab for PhD? How was it and can you offer any advice? Is it worth moving to a big lab given the political nature of my (or all?) research area. Any comments on this are appreciated!

Why in the world would you judge someone for searching for a partner? Even if a 40 year old man wanted to date a 20 year old, it is really not your place to judge. For all you know, the 40 year old man might just relate better to 20 year olds due to events in his life. Or maybe this man has had a difficult time finding the perfect partner and he finally found someone wonderful and there happens to be an age gap. You have no idea whether he would be comfortable in a long term relationship with someone younger so it makes no sense to doubt that. Honestly, it is difficult enough finding a partner with a perfect personality fit without people judging you due to differences in age, ethnicity, social class, etc. Judgements likes these, made without any justification, cause nothing but problems. If you want to judge people due to their relationships then judge men who beat their wives or treat them horribly or murder their children. That is justified. Judging someone who is searching for love and wants to find someone to settle down and be happy with is completely uncalled for.

I agree that this is a pretty personal choice and you have to decide how you prefer to live. I think that in your situation, I would get a small side job to suppliment my income. It might be as easy as tutoring a few times a week in the library or nannying. These are the sort of side jobs that I would be looking for in your situation since the committment is a bit lighter - you can choose to not agree to tutor sessions during midterms and finals weeks. Other than that, you might look at jobs offered by your department. Ex: TAing, RAing, even admin office work, keeping up the website, etc. You might be able to find something like this. You can also look at internships in your field which could provide some extra money and experience. If this is a funded MA and you dont have to take out loans then I would consider that these are really hard to find and you are very lucky before passing up such an awesome opportunity! It is normal for grad students to live very minimal lifestyles without extras. You only have to deal with it for a very short time!

As someone who is currently dealing with the 2 body problem, I can attest to the fact that it sucks. At the same time though, I am not the type of person who enjoys casual relationships. Relationships have never seemed like baggage to me. I enjoy the company more than I dislike the work necesary to make it work. I dont think that having a different opinion and perfering the opposite makes anyone an 'asshole' at all. I think that term comes into play when someone is not upfront about their expectations and gets sex at the expense of the other person's feelings. I do know plenty of people in grad school who feel the same way as I do. Even though the 2 body problem is difficult, I think that it is worth it to have a great partner to go through life with. I dont think my opinion is unusual so I dont think that we can assume that this guy feels that way. OP, why not ask the guy out and see what he says?

I understand your point that you should get more of a general education in undergrad and I do agree with you to an extent. However, if the student were to mention in the SOP that they taught themself this material over the summer then I think their ability to do this and still excel in the upper level classes would be impressive. I certainly dont think it would be cause for concern. Since being able to teach oneself information in grad school is so important, I think that proof on your transcript that you can do this would be helpful. That being said, I dont think you would have an advantage in admission over someone who did not take quantum. Honestly, class work is such a small part of the application so if you were to do less research to take more difficult classes then if would put you at a disadvatage. I think you should focus on reserach and reading papers in your field and take classes to suppliment that.

One of the programs that I am applying to is only a few years old but the faculty associated with it are top in my field. I agree that the PI matters alot more than the degree program.

Do you feel absolutely set on getting into a program this cycle? I'm not doubting whether you can at all! But if you feel swamped with all the other application elements then you can always apply without it and then keep a backup plan of doing research for a year and taking the subject next next fall. Then if you find out this cycle that you do need the subject test to get in then you'd have a whole year to study a ton and score >80% even. The truth is that you might find that you can get into great programs without it and you would waste your time and create unnecessary stress by taking it this fall. If that's the case, this plan would eliminate that possibility. Just another option to consider!

2.5 is very low and that combined with the low verbal will raise concern about your ability to successfully communicate and write reserach papers in English. Your quant is very very good and you still have time to raise the verbal and/or writing. If you can even increase 1 of the two scores then I think you will be in much better shape. I recommend taking a month to study vocab that commonly shows up on the verbal section and reading alot of the practice essays that recived high essay scores and retake. In case you havent heard of it, ETS has an online scoring for practice essays that isnt too expensive. Unlike the real GRE, the computer scores the essays instead of actual people but it may be able to give you a rough estimate of whether you are improving. Here is a link to the site: https://www.dxrgroup.com/cgi-bin/scoreitnow/index.pl Goodluck!

What do you mean by this? Do you not believe the SOP because you just have normal doubts about whether you are qualified or are you still unsure of your research interets? I do think that this is an important question to answer. Your interests were certainly evolve in grad school but I think that you should be able to write a genuine SOP about your interests at this point.

Why not contact the professor and ask about the department's policies about taking on grad students?

I don't think this is necessarily true. Chemistry between two people is a lot more complicated than that. I think that two people these ages might be able to have a wonderful relationship depending on the maturity of the two individuals.